


Deneva

by yeaka



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Episode: s01e29 Operation - Annihilate, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21685834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Spock suffers through.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Spock
Comments: 12
Kudos: 87





	Deneva

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Set during “Operation: Annihilate”
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Star Trek or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

The pain is excruciating, permeating every part of his entire body, invading all his nerve endings and crawling along his skin, but he is _Vulcan_ , and he ignores it. Spock closes his eyes against the searing agony and wills it down—a failing effort that he surges through. There is no giving in. If he surrenders to it, he won’t only doom the millions of people down on the planet’s surface, but all those on the Enterprise, and that’s a risk that Spock can’t take. They need a _cure_. They need to destroy the organisms that feed on living tissue and spread like an ancient plague. 

Spock exhales a shaking breath and opens his eyes. He stares at the viewer beneath him. The science lab is chilly, as all the Enterprise is to him, but it’s particularly egregious at the moment. It’s difficult to be hurt _and_ cold. 

The doors swish open behind him. Spock doesn’t bother looking up—he needs every bit of focus he has fixed on specimen that he’s examining. He fights for concentration, even when he feels long arms reach around his shoulders, wrapping him up in such a tender warmth. He feels Jim’s chin press into his cheek, Jim leaning over him, _holding_ him, embracing him in a way that should only ever be done in private. For once, Spock doesn’t have the strength to scold his human counterpart. 

“I can only spare a moment,” Jim mutters, and Spock scrunches up with that realization because he knows it’s true. Jim’s needed on the bridge. He has better things to do than hug his crumbling first officer. “But I need you to know that I’m here for you. Even if I’m not there physically, I’m with you every minute.”

In a sense, it’s true—their bond is strong enough to reach far beyond the few decks’ difference between the science lab and the bridge. Jim is comforting him in every moment, offering him an anchor, a light in the dark. Spock clings to it more desperately than Jim will ever know. 

Spock breathes, “I understand, Captain.” He swallows and forces himself to sooth Jim’s worry. Spock isn’t even facing the worst of it. “You are also facing a great pain...”

“I lost my brother, my sister in law, and I might lose my nephew... Spock, I _can’t_ lose my _t’hy’la_ too.”

Spock shivers with the sheer enormity of Jim’s emotions, rippling through him like crashing waves. He burns everywhere that Jim touches him, but it’s a pleasant spark—a moment of solidarity. He finds Jim’s hand and entwines their fingers together, something so _intimate_ , far beyond Jim’s comprehension. In the midst of his torture, Spock doesn’t care for Vulcan propriety. He brings Jim’s hand up to his mouth and kisses the back of it: a human caress for Jim to remember. 

He lies, “I promise I am not going anywhere, Captain.” If nothing else, a part of his katra will remain with Jim long after his passing. 

The wall panel beeps, calling for the captain. Jim has to go, and Spock knows that, accepts that. Jim squeezes him tight, and an avalanche of _love_ floods into Spock’s mind, temporarily negating all the pain.

Then Jim is withdrawing, leaving, and Spock’s at another alien’s mercy.


End file.
